Why Have So Many Women Quit on Mayor de Blasio?

Image

Mayor Bill de Blasio with the “Fearless Girl” statue in New York City in March. While Mayor de Blasio has been a champion of women in some ways, senior women in his administration have walked away in disproportionate numbers.CreditDrew Angerer/Getty Images

In the run-up to his election and throughout his first term as mayor, Bill de Blasio built a reputation for advancing women’s rights. He was endorsed by the National Organization for Women; held a ticker-tape parade for the United States women’s soccer squad, the city’s first for a women’s team; and won points for placing many women in high-level positions.

But now, as he seeks re-election in November, Mr. de Blasio has seen a puzzling exodus of female talent.

Thirty-one high-level officials hired by Mr. de Blasio have left City Hall since he took office in 2014. Of those, 22 were women, more than twice the number of men who left.

The gender imbalance of the departures has raised questions as to why so many women, including many who are black or Hispanic, have jumped ship on a mayor seen as welcoming to women and minorities.

Interviews with a dozen women who either have left City Hall or continue to work there pointed to several factors fueling the departures. Several of the women spoke on the condition of anonymity because they did not want to damage relations with the mayor or other city officials.

One factor mentioned repeatedly was the mayor’s management style. It can be deliberative to the point of plodding, and several people said that it had produced a high level of frustration among top officials. They said that promising projects sometimes go many months awaiting approval or simply languish, drowned in a flood of memos, indecision and political strategizing.

Image

From left: Emily Lloyd, Lilliam Barrios-Paoli, Maibe Ponet, Gabrielle Fialkoff, Kathryn Garcia, Rebecca Katz, Laura Santucci, Alicia Glen, Polly Trottenberg, Rachel Noerdlinger, Marti Adams, Maya Wiley, Emma Wolfe. More than half of these women, who worked for Mayor de Blasio’s in 2014, have moved on.CreditTony Cenicola/The New York Times

Another factor cited by some who frequently dealt with the mayor involved his personality; he often lectures his staff during meetings in what people describe as a condescending tone, and he is known for berating or belittling subordinates in front of others or shooting off emails criticizing them in brusque terms.

Nearly everyone experiences this, the women said, but they suggested that women may have less patience.

“You’re at a point in your career where, why should you put up with the nonsense,” said one woman who left a senior job at City Hall. “If you came to make a change and to make a difference, your tolerance is going to be a lot lower than if you just came for the title.”

But some found the work environment at City Hall directly hostile to women.

“I just found it to be a totally inhospitable workplace,” said Lindsay Scola, Mr. de Blasio’s former scheduler, who had previously worked with the former first lady, Michelle Obama, and the Energy Department.

Ms. Scola and two other women recounted repeated instances where they felt they were marginalized or talked down to by a male colleague, because they were women. Ms. Scola said she was once told that her “job was to hold time on the Outlook calendar and nothing else, like I was a little girl.”

Ms. Scola said that the mayor was aware of the behavior and “knowingly tolerated it.”

The pattern of top-level women leaving the administration has not gone unnoticed in City Hall.

Women today make up 51 percent of the senior staff, according to Rachel Lauter, the mayor’s current director of appointments, who tracks the gender and racial makeup for more than 90 senior positions at City Hall. She said that in 2014, Mr. de Blasio’s first year in office, 53 percent of senior staff members were women. The number rose to 57 percent last year, before falling to its current level.

Image

Mayor de Blasio arriving at City Hall with his press secretary, Karen Hinton, in February 2016. Ms. Hinton left after holding the position for a year.CreditBryan R. Smith for The New York Times

“Yes, we’re paying attention, it’s important to us,” Ms. Lauter said, adding that the administration had set a goal of having more than half of the top jobs in City Hall held by women, to reflect the demographics of the city: According to the 2010 census, women make up 52 percent of the city’s population.

Of the eight department commissioners who have left, six have been women. (A ninth, Joseph Ponte, of the Correction Department, has announced that he will retire next month.) The only deputy mayor to leave the administration was a woman, Lilliam Barrios-Paoli.

Also among those quitting were Karen Hinton, the mayor’s press secretary; Laura Santucci, the mayor’s chief of staff; Chloe Drew, the mayor’s appointments director; Minerva Tantoco, the chief technology officer; and Maya D. Wiley, the counsel to the mayor.

Many women who have left did so after only a relatively short time. Ms. Santucci worked for the mayor for about 13 months. Ms. Hinton and Ms. Drew stayed for a year. Ms. Barrios-Paoli; Ms. Tantoco; Cynthia Lopez, the commissioner of media and entertainment; and Rosemonde Pierre-Louis, commissioner of the office to combat domestic violence, each exited after less than two years.

Women have given a variety of reasons for leaving.

Vicki L. Been, commissioner of housing preservation and development, became faculty director of the Furman Center at New York University, where she had worked previously. Emily Lloyd, the commissioner of environmental protection, told colleagues she was retiring because of health concerns. Gladys Carrión, the commissioner of the Administration for Children’s Services, retired, but was generally perceived to have been forced out after fiercely critical news coverage of the deaths of vulnerable children.

Katy Gaul-Stigge, the director of the Office of Workforce Development, left to become the chief executive of Goodwill Industries of New York and New Jersey. Ms. Santucci, the chief of staff, took a job with the World Food Program of the United Nations.

Ms. Wiley, the first black woman to serve as counsel, left the mayor’s office in July to become a professor and a senior vice president at the New School. She was also appointed by Mr. de Blasio as chairwoman of the Civilian Complaint Review Board, an independent body that is not considered part of the senior staff.

Image

Mayor de Blasio talking with Kathryn Garcia, the sanitation commissioner, before an expected snowstorm in March. Ms. Garcia said she saw no difference in how men and women were treated at City Hall.CreditChristian Hansen for The New York Times

“I don’t know any workplace that doesn’t need to look at race and gender dynamics. City Hall is no different,” Ms. Wiley said. “I felt respected and am proud of what I accomplished there.”

There are still women in Mr. de Blasio’s inner circle, including Alicia K. Glen, the deputy mayor for economic development, Andrea Hagelgans, senior advisor for strategic planning and Emma Wolfe, the director of intergovernmental affairs.

Kathryn Garcia, the sanitation commissioner, said that she saw no difference in the way men and women were treated at City Hall.

“He’s a tough boss, but I’ve never seen him be tougher on women than men,” Ms. Garcia said.

Austin Finan, a spokesman for the mayor, said: “This is a progressive administration that’s not in denial about the unique pressures women face in and outside of the workplace. We make a conscious effort to be aware of those realities and allow that awareness to not only shape our hiring, but build a workplace environment where women are supported and empowered.”

The only men to depart as commissioner were William J. Bratton, the police commissioner, and Gilbert A. Taylor, the commissioner of homeless services. Mr. Ponte, the correction commissioner, announced that he will retire in mid-June. Other prominent men to leave were Carl Weisbrod, the chairman of the Planning Commission, and Dr. Ramanathan Raju, the president of the Health and Hospitals Corporation.

(Two others, Phil Walzak and Rick Fromberg, occupy top posts in Mr. de Blasio’s re-election campaign. Although they are no longer at City Hall, they continue to work closely with the mayor, and so were not counted among the total number of departures for the sake of this analysis.)

Beth Livingston, an assistant professor of human resource studies at the School of Industrial and Labor Relations of Cornell University, said that the relatively high rate of attrition among women in City Hall mirrored what was often seen in corporate America.

She said that many organizations failed to retain female workers because they had not altered the climate of the workplace. Women, she said, may find that they “are not treated the same, that their opinions don’t hold the same weight.” Or, she said, “You’re always the one getting interrupted in meetings.”

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A17 of the New York edition with the headline: Why Have So Many Women Made an Exit From Mayor de Blasio’s Team?. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe